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Toronto Councillor Paul Ainslie is the second city politician this year to face a media frenzy over a drinking and driving incident.

The veteran councillor acknowledged Thursday that he was stopped by a RIDE spot check May 3 and was given a warning that required him to surrender his driver’s licence for three days.

Councillor Paul Ainslie said Thursday that he received a warning for drinking and driving after being pulled over for a roadside spot check by Toronto police earlier this month and was suspended from driving for three days. (STEVE RUSSELL / TORONTO STAR)

Ainslie (Ward 43, Scarborough East) said police stopped him near Kingston Rd. and Midland Ave., as he was driving home from a dinner with friends during which he had consumed two or three glasses of wine.

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The Ford ally, picked by the mayor to chair the government management committee, said he thought enough time had elapsed for the alcohol to wear off and was surprised by the breathalyzer result.

Ainslie, an organizer of the Garrison Ball, said later the mayor “seemed somewhat incoherent.” Organizers and guests described the mayor as “intoxicated,” “out of it,” “rambling,” and “incoherent.”

Ainslie talked about the roadside check in an impromptu news conference outside the mayor’s city hall office, where media have been camped out seeking comment from Ford about the explosive video.

“I felt that having innuendo about me driving under the influence needed to be cleared up, and that’s why I’m standing before you here today,” Ainslie told reporters.

He said he came forward because comments appeared on Twitter the previous evening that he had been “popped” with a charge of driving under the influence, which he said was not true.

In an interview Thursday night, Ainslie said a Toronto Sun reporter confronted him with the same false information last week. But instead of correcting the record then, he denied everything.

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“He asked me if I had lost my licence and got my car towed or something,” Ainslie told the Star. “But to be quite honest, I was so mad that he was accusing me of being changed with DUI (driving under the influence) that he could have asked me anything (and I would have denied it). I was that mad.”

Ainslie said police have indicated no charges will be laid. He said he will be more diligent in future and pledged that it will not happen again.

“I can assure my family, my constituents and the citizens of the City of Toronto this incident will never be repeated, as I have now been reminded of a lesson which was taught to me long ago: drinking and driving don’t mix,” he told reporters.

Ainslie’s news conference took place in the same spot where, a day earlier, the mayor’s brother, Councillor Doug Ford, made a speech about the mayor’s mounting troubles.

While Councillor Ford suggested his brother has said enough, Ainslie urged the mayor to clear the air, joining other councillors who have said in recent days that the mayor needs to speak directly to the issue.

“I think he needs to make a statement one way or the other and clear up the matter,” he said. “He’s our elected mayor. I think he has some decisions to make, as I did.

In January, Bailao acknowledged that her blood-alcohol level was 0.13 grams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, more than 60 per cent above the legal limit of 0.08.

“I made a bad decision,” she said. “I take responsibility for it.”

She also acknowledged that, as the Star reported, she had been drinking at the Thompson Hotel before her arrest with a lobbyist representing a casino company, among other corporate interests.

Meantime, Toronto’s Catholic board has not heard from Ford despite the hand-delivered letter that arrived at his office around noon Wednesday advising him that he was no longer coach of Don Bosco’s football team, said spokesperson John Yan.

Former CFL-er Gene Mack was on hand to help inform the team about Ford’s removal.

“Gene Mack has worked with young men, and he offered to come and talk to the players, to say the board is committed to football and we would support them,” Yan told the Star’s Kris Rushowy.

Football at Bosco runs from September to November, and planning for the next season begins in about a week. The team has a teacher coach but is still looking for a volunteer coach to take over Ford’s position, Yan added.

While the board provided the Bosco team with helmets, much of the players’ equipment was donated by Ford’s football foundation. Yan said if Ford requests that the equipment be returned, the board would comply.

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